On the Image and Likeness of God in Man (Part 2)

And here again it is seen what an exact image man is of God. The Son takes on humanity; through Him all God the Trinity enters into communion with man. Our thought, in order to communicate with men, clothes itself in sounds: immaterial joins itself with matter; through its mediation spirit enters into communion, the mind appears.

The Son became incarnate—God’s Word, God’s Truth. By Truth our thought has been corrected and purified, our spirit has become capable of communion with the Holy Spirit. Our spirit, which was slain by eternal death, has been made alive by the Holy Spirit. Then the mind entered into knowledge and vision of the Father.

The trinity of man is healed by God the Trinity: by the Word thought is healed, translated from the realm of falsehood, from the realm of self-deception, into the realm of Truth; by the Holy Spirit the spirit is quickened, translated from fleshly and soulish sensations into spiritual sensations; the Father appears to the mind—and the mind becomes the mind of God. “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16), says the Apostle.

Before the coming of the Holy Spirit, man, as dead in spirit, asked: “Lord, show us the Father” (Jn. 14:8). After receiving the spirit of adoption, having felt his sonship, quickened in spirit for God and salvation, through the action of the Holy Spirit, he relates to the Father as to one known, as to a Father: “Abba Father” (Rom. 8:15-16)!

In the font of baptism the fallen image is restored; man is born into eternal life by water and spirit. From thenceforth the Spirit, who departed from man at his fall, begins to be co-present with him during his earthly life, healing through repentance the damages inflicted upon man by sin after baptism, and thus making it possible for him to be saved through repentance until his very last breath.

The beauty of the likeness is restored by the Spirit, just as the image in baptism. It develops, is perfected by the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments.

The model of this beauty, the fullness of this beauty, is the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1), proclaims the Apostle, calling the faithful to the restoration and perfection within themselves of the Divine likeness, pointing to the Most Sacred Model of perfection of new men, recreated and renewed by redemption. “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 13:14).

God the Trinity, in the redemption of His image—man—gave such a possibility for advancement in the perfection of the likeness, that the likeness becomes a union of the image with the Original, of the poor creature with the all-perfect Creator.

Wondrous, marvelous is the image of God, that image from which God shines forth and acts! The shadow of the Apostle Peter healed! He who lied before him fell suddenly dead, as one who had lied before God! The aprons and head coverings of the Apostle Paul worked wonders! The bones of the Prophet Elisha raised a dead man, whose careless burial attendants allowed him to touch the long-resting bones of the Spirit-bearer in the tomb!

“Abide in me”, commands the Saviour to His disciples, “and I in you. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit” (Jn. 15:4-5). The closest likeness, union is obtained and, once obtained, is maintained by abiding in the Gospel commandments.

The most blessed union is brought about when with a pure conscience, purified by turning away from every sin, by exact fulfillment of the Gospel commandments, the Christian partakes of the most holy body of Christ and His most holy blood, and together with them the Godhead united with them. “He who eats my flesh”, said the Saviour, “and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” (Jn 6:56).

O rational image of God! Consider: to what glory, to what perfection, to what greatness are you called and destined by God!

The incomprehensible wisdom of the Creator has granted to you to make of yourself what you wish to make.

O rational image of God! Will you not wish to remain worthy as God’s image? Will you wish to deface yourself, destroy the likeness, transform yourself into the image of the devil, descend to the dignity of the beasts?

God did not pour forth His gifts in vain, did not accomplish the wondrous creation of the world in vain, did not honor with preliminary deliberation the creation of His image in vain, did not redeem it without accounting when it fell! He will require an account for all His gifts. He will judge how His bounties have been used, how His incarnation has been valued, how His blood, shed for us at our redemption, has been valued.

Woe, woe to the creatures who neglected the good deeds of God, the Creator-Redeemer!

Eternal fire, the abyss of fire, kindled long ago, unquenched, prepared for the devil and his angels, awaits the images of God, deformed, made depraved. There they will burn eternally, not be consumed eternally!

Brethren! While we wander on earth, while we are in the antechamber to eternity—in this visible world—let us strive to restore to their proper form the features of the Divine image imprinted by God upon our souls, to give beauty, liveliness, and freshness to the hues and colors of the likeness, and God, at the terrible judgment, will recognize us as capable of entering His eternal, blessed palace, His eternal day, His eternal feast and triumph.

Be encouraged, you of little faith! Let us be stirred, you lazy ones! A man like us, who at first, in his blindness, persecuted the Church of God, was an opponent, an enemy of God, has so corrected within himself, after his conversion, the God-given Divine image, has so perfected the likeness, that with boldness he proclaims of himself: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me!” (Gal. 2:20).

Let no one doubt the truth of this voice! This voice was so filled with all-holy Truth, the Holy Spirit so worked through it, that at Paul’s voice the dead were raised, demons departed from those tormented by them, the oracles of demons fell silent, the enemies of God’s Light were deprived of the light of their eyes, the heathen rejected their idols, knew Christ—the true God, and worshipped Him. Amen.